I know this has been talked about before, but what works best and is there anything that you can do only once per season? Tried Cleanup II last year which claims one treatment per season. Didn't seem all that great but it was really cold when we did it.

I tried Saber for fly and lice this summer, Will use it again.I used to use Cylence but have a mad on at Bayer for the pricing of it. Similar size jug in USA is under $90, in Canada over $350. The drug rep from Alberta said it probably came from the same tap.The head of Bayer Animal health said it was different social and economic differences. I called BS because there isn't that much difference between Whitetail MT and Big Beaver SK.lol

We had a bad lice outbreak last year cleanup II did what it needed to do. We used it again this year at pregcheck. Will know more as lice season progresses. It is a bear to use if it is below 30 degrees F. This is what our vet reccomends.

Again, Dr. Don Bliss, one of the world's foremost parasiteologists says, "if you want to get lice, you have to pour them twice."

Usually we all get by with one application, but nothing truly eliminates them with one application. "Twice" means 14 days apart. I remember when Cydectin (I think that was what it was-my recall isn't what it used to be) had the lice guarantee, '6 months lice free'. The government made them pull that guarantee because it was bogus. We had a friend who sold it and she lost her job because their marketing tool was taken away. I know because she told us that was the reason she lost her job.

We used Cylence for years and poured the cows 2-3 times during the summer for flies. That broke the life cycle of the lice as much as anything. At that time it was cheap and easy to use. But we had to change because the cows built an immunity to it and we didn't think anything worked as well after that. We didn't want to have to treat them twice 14 days apart, so didn't and crossed our fingers one treatment would get us by. Remember, there are biting lice and eggs. Kill the biting (chewing) lice and you still have eggs that hatch 14 days later.

We used Epernix once and broke with lice really bad. Had the vet come out and scrape the cows. He said what we were seeing wasn't caused by lice. Anyway, sent it in and sure enough, it was lice. They replaced the product.........with Ivomec. Go figure.

Here is a good article on it, this guys says 3 weeks between 1st and second treatment. It's a good read.

Lice are spread by direct contact; calves pick up lice from their mothers or herdmates. Lice can infest cattle all year round, but their numbers are typically low in summer because most lice shed off in spring with winter hair, says Jack Campbell, a University of Nebraska professor emeritus and veterinary entomologist.

Cattle’s winter hair coat provides lice protection and an ideal environment for reproduction, he says. The life cycle is 20-30 days and the entire cycle takes place on the host, which makes lice an easier parasite to kill.

Adult females attach their eggs to hairs, which hatch in 5-14 days. When the nymphs emerge, they look similar to adults, but smaller, and go through three molts within a week. They advance to egg-laying adults in about 14 days.

Townsend says diligent lice control can effectively eliminate lice in most herds. But, if a producer doesn’t ensure that all the cattle on the farm get treated, or if he fails to follow up with the second treatment, there will be residual lice populations to reinfect the herd.

“Giving two treatments three weeks apart is an important key. Most products don’t work against the egg stage,” he says. Thus, the eggs on the hairs survive, and hatch later.

There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn't true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true.

Cleanup has an insect growth regulator in it that kills the insects as they hatch. Not sure how many days it is effective. Personally I wouldn’t use it below 30 degrees if possible but in a pinch if you could.

The other ingredient is permethrin. I can't see anything that would kill lice with one treatment better than any other product. I think they could be called on their labeling. They say lice eggs in the first part, but don't mention lice eggs in the graph.

I looked it up. In the first part it says :

Provides control of biting and sucking liceKills louse eggs (nits) before they hatchOne application controls liceNo pre-slaughter or milk withholding periodEach case sold with applicator gun

Most of the cattle were infested with at least two species and some had three or all four species present. All of the treatments except permethrin 1.0%+5% PBO, at a rate of 3 ml/45.4 kg wt. provided acceptable lice control with one application. Data indicated that applying the insecticides in early January should provide enough control to render the need for a second treatment unnecessary.----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So, if you treat for lice later than at preg testing time (Sept to Nov), you can probably get by with one treatment. But to kill them you have to treat them twice. Most of us treat once and hope we don't have to treat them again. FWIW

Dr. Bliss said biting and sucking lice are easy to kill.

It's lice breaking again because the eggs hatch and the cycle starts all over again, that makes control tough. So use the cheapest product you can find as late as you can, and hope one treatment works well enough you won't have an heavy infestation and have to treat them again. I think most years we get by. Nutrition and sunshine really helps.

There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn't true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true.

So we used to pour once and it was enough, now we need to do it twice for the same results...10 yrs from now will it be 3x?

I know of several producers near me that have quit pouring all together. They don't miss it. I'm not quite there, but I am done pouring everyone. I have a couple old back scratchers that can be filled with diesel fuel and Prolate mixed together. I figure I'll fill it up once I see the cows starting to rub, that way the ones that need it will seek it out. Those cows that aren't bothered by the lice won't need it. I won't kill all the lice, but I'm not sure I want to. The crop guys figured out they needed "refuge" acres for the bugs to maintain susceptible bug genetics so as to prevent resistance. Maybe the same applies to lice?

I poured 'Clean-Up' in a small bucket and ladled it onto my cows as they came off the truck. That worked really well. I knew I couldn't make the applicator gun work fast enough. My vet told me once I knew I had a lice problem, it was too late. This year was the first for using CleanUp. Last year, I used Dectomax pour on and never had a sign of lice on the cows.